Mobile phone masts have attracted enormous controversy because of concern about the health risks of living in proximity to one, but is there really any truth to the scare stories?

Public Heath Problems

Despite ongoing concerns about the potential long-term health risks of mobile phones, most people are still happy to press a mobile up to their ears, but try suggesting putting up a mobile mast somewhere near their home and you will likely be met with a look of abject horror. Why is it people are convinced that mobile base stations are dangerous but mobiles aren’t?

Mobile phone base stations and their radioactive emissions have been accused of causing leukaemia, brain tumours and a syndrome known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EH). Those people that live in close proximity to one of the UK’s over 50,000 mobile phone masts have attributed all manner of health problems to the local antenna including heart palpitations, headaches, nose bleeds, itchy burning skins and severe depression. . http://www.mobilephonesandsafety.co.uk/mobile-phone-masts-public-health.html

Are Mobile Phone Masts Harmless?

However, despite such complaints, the reality is that, just as with mobile phones themselves, there is just no conclusive evidence to prove that mobile masts are in any way dangerous. The majority of evidence now available suggests there are no adverse health effects from exposure to radio frequency (RF) waves. When the first Government-funded research into potential dangers of mobile masts was carried in 2008, the results found them to be harmless.

One of the lead researchers, Leeka Kheifets of UCLA, had previously stated in writing that there was “no consistent evidence of a causal relationship between exposure to radiofrequency fields [including those from mobile phones] and any adverse health effect.” A well-known skeptic of the connection between mobile phone use and health or behavioral problems, Kheifets admitted to being surprised by the current study’s findings.

The researchers attempted to demonstrate that some other confounding factor – such as smoking during pregnancy, socioeconomic status or a family history of mental illness – had caused the behavioral effects observed. But when they corrected for these factors, the contribution of mobile phones actually became statistically stronger.

Saying that they did not know of any biological mechanism by which mobile phones could cause behavioral problems, the researchers urged that their results “should be interpreted with caution.” They also suggested that there might be some correlation between cellular phone use and some other factor that leads to behavioral difficulties – such as neglect by a mother that spends too much time on the phone.

But they conceded that “if [the results] are real they would have major public health implications.”

Sam Millham of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the University of Washington School of Public Health, said that he is certain the study results are accurate. Recent research conducted in Canada on pregnant rats demonstrated that radiation similar to that from mobile phones caused structural changes to the brains of the fetuses, he said.

Millham is considered a pioneer in researching the connection between mobile phone use and negative health effects.

The study’s results came not long after the Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection released new warnings about the use of mobile phones by pregnant women and children. Use of cellular phones by children can lead to short-term “disruption of memory, decline of attention, diminishing learning and cognitive abilities, increased irritability,” while long-term use can cause “depressive syndrome [and] degeneration of the nervous structures of the brain.”

The committee counseled pregnant women and children to limit their exposure to mobile phones, warning that the health risk from the devices “is not much lower than the risk to children’s health from tobacco or alcohol.”